In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking tourism and destination marketing with Emily Gonzalez, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Visit Mobile.
If your ad agency pursues tourism and destination marketing clients, watch this episode.
Visit Mobile is Mobile, Alabama’s official destination marketing organization charged with attracting visitors and conventions to the Mobile area to experience and enjoy their history, culture and attractions in order to further strengthen Mobile’s image as a national destination, increasing economic stability and enhancing the region’s quality of life.
Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Emily talks:
Where to place her marketing emphasis when there are so many different offerings.
How she uses data and analytics to optimize her marketing efforts.
The biggest marketing challenges in marketing Mobile, AL.
How her degree from the Southeast Tourism Society impacts her work.
What Visit Mobile does, and the six pillars the organization focuses on.
The biggest differences between marketing vacation rentals (her previous job) and marketing a city.
How marketing a city like Mobile has changed over the years.
How she determines positioning for Mobile to most effectively differentiate it from other destinations.
Whether she currently uses an agency in her marketing efforts.
Advice she would give to marketers thinking about bringing a new agency on board.
And lastly, if an agency was attempting to win business from her, the advice she would give them.
If your agency or PR firm is struggling with new business, contact Lee McKnight Jr. at lee@rswus.com for a conversation. That’s our sole focus at RSW/US.
In this episode of Marketer’s Edge we’re talking financial services and credit unions with David Eldred, the Chief Experience Officer for Solarity Credit Union.
If your agency pursues clients in the financial services or credit union space, you’ll want to watch this episode.
With over $1 billion in assets under management, Solarity Credit Union’s digitally focused community-centric co-op currently serves more than 50,000 members and offers a comprehensive range of products and services to meet ever-evolving financial needs.
Membership is open to everyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school within a Washington State school district.
Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-David talks:
His experience with RVM (Relationship Value Management), an approach that proved invaluable in developing relationship-based pricing strategies.
Aside from mobile banking, the biggest changes in the industry he has experienced.
And what he thinks the financial services and credit unions space will look like 3-5 years out.
What it means to be a “Chief Experience Officer” at a credit union and how that’s different than being a CMO.
What he likes most (personally and professionally) about the financial servives and credit unions space, an industry he’s operated in his entire career.
The advantages of in-house teams and the advantages of working with an outside agency.
Any advice he would give to marketers thinking about bringing a new agency on board.
And lastly, if an agency was trying to knock down his door and attempting to win business from him, the advice he would give them.
Unsurprisingly, networking (73%), past agency relationships (67%), and friends/co-workers (60%) constituted the top 3.
Direct Outreach Making A Comeback?
OK, maybe not the best heading, because direct outreach (outbound) never went away, but small and mid-sized agencies have always struggled with it,
In answer to the above question we asked marketers, a significant number (44%) stated that they learn about agencies via direct agency outreach.
When we asked this question many years ago, the percent of marketers stating that they learned about agencies this way was in the low teens (13%).
A few takeaways for agencies here.
If you aren’t organizing outreach to marketers, you need to do it now.
There once was a day when “web searches” was among the top ways in which marketers found out about agencies. This year, it rates near the bottom, at 16%.
And while you can’t necessarily influence a marketer’s personal network, unless you literally know someone in that network, these results are a reminder to focus on your own network. As always, it’s important to your new business strategy, whether through other firms, associates, or friends.
You must cultivate your personal network, and not be afraid or nervous about doing so.
Marketers named “past agency relationships” as the second most-often way they discover agencies.
Often, when marketers move to another company, they reach out to you, which is fantastic.
But it doesn’t always happen that way.
Take the time in the beginning of 2023 to look through your past clients.
Odds are, there are individuals who have moved on to new companies, which is an opportunity for you to reconnect.
How do prospects find your agency? To reiterate: Do not ignore number four on this list (Direct Agency Outreach) just because it’s number four!
Of the top three on the list above, only number two is the one you have any control over.
So that leaves you with the most important, and one you can most directly influence: direct agency outreach.
Make it a priority in 2023, and if you need help, that’s what we do. Contact us here.
https://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/How-Do-Prospects-Find-Your-Agency-1.png10801080Lee McKnight Jrhttps://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Updated-RSW-logo-2021.pngLee McKnight Jr2023-02-09 15:56:382023-03-20 09:52:08How Do Prospects Find Your Ad Agency?
Ad agencies specialize because it establishes the agency as an expert in a given vertical, or verticals. 92% of marketers say expertise will be very/moderately important when considering new agencies. Specialization also helps establish a strong agency brand, and aids business development efforts by making it easier to find new, desirable clients.
Stats below are taken from our 2023 RSW New Year Outlook Report (download here at no cost).
Why Should Ad Agencies Specialize: Specialization Myths
(I don’t know that “myths” succinctly applies here, “misconceptions” is probably the better word, but myths fits into a subject line better than misconceptions.)
It’s often groan-inducing when an agency hears “you need to specialize in order to get the clients you really want”.
A vertical positioning is centered around an industry category, such as NAICS 541430–Graphic Design Services.
Or it could be very broad, like marketing for manufacturing, but it’s usually narrower than that.
So it might be credit unions, specialty physicians, non-profits, or high-growth tech.
A horizontal positioning defines your target in another way by spanning most of the verticals.
You could define your horizontal by a demographic segment, like millennials, Hispanics, women, or even around employee alignment.
It could be as specific as helping B2B leaders at disruptive transitions. You could also define it by a practice area, like investor relations.
The Ad Agency Specialization Myth
So let’s get to the main myth, if you will, about specialization: specialization doesn’t mean you have to focus on just one vertical.
David’s initial definition begins that explanation.
Agencies, understandably, don’t always take the time to think through the nuances of positioning, and what specialization could look like in reality for their agency.
If you’re struggling with this, I suggest reading David’s entire post, but here’s further, helpful explanation from it:
The most powerful positioning combines both, in something like a crosshairs, but you always lead with a horizontal or a vertical focus.
So you might target credit unions but with a particular focus on social media.
That would be a vertical positioning, primarily, but with a bold narrowing on top of it.
Or you might be a public relations firm specializing in investor relations with a particular strength in tech.
That would be a horizontal positioning, primarily.
Ultimately, it’s important for you to remember, your prospects are looking for expertise, and a certain level of specialization, but it doesn’t mean you have to paint your agency into a rigid corner.
Another related stat from our report:
72% of marketers say an agency’s site is important/very important in helping determine whether they’ll entertain an initial meeting.
Ad Agency Specialization-Make It Clear On Your Site
A final note on specialization: if you do the work to craft your positioning and specialization, it can’t end there.
And that may sound glaringly obvious, but too often agencies nail the positioning down, but leave out an important step-updating their site to reflect it.
In one of our new questions in our new year outlook survey, we asked marketers, “How important is an agency’s website in helping you determine whether you’ll entertain a conversation with an agency?”
The agency site is typically the first thing a prospect sees, right?
But how important to your prospects is it really?
As our stat above points out, it’s important.
This is probably not a great shock to agencies, but it should be something of a wake-up call, or at the very least a reminder.
Your agency’s site is a visual elevator pitch, yet many agencies don’t consider this when creating or updating their sites.
Your site is typically the last thing you get to because it takes time to update it, but here’s further proof you must attend to it.
Even if that means an initial copy update to reflect your updated positioning, and/or updates over time.
To help drive more new business for your firm, look at it as soon as you can and make a plan for those updates.
Similar to last year’s report findings, overall, signs point towards marketers’ reliance on in-house teams waning — at least, according to agencies.
We initially asked agencies:
What percent of YOUR current clients have in-house agencies/do agency-like work in-house?
To provide some perspective, in 2021, 14% of agencies indicated that 51%+ of their clients brought agency work in-house, which rose slightly to 17% last year, and now in ‘23 drops to 13%.
But otherwise, agencies overall report less reliance by clients on in-house teams in 2022.
However, in a corresponding question, we asked marketers,
What percentage of your marketing/advertising activity is managed by an in-house marketing/advertising team?
Last year, 39% of marketers indicated that 51%+ of their marketing/advertising activity occurs in-house.
In 2022, it rose to 47%.
Here we go again
So we see agencies and marketers at odds here, with 13% of agencies reporting clients doing work in-house, but 47% of marketers reporting the same thing in 2022.
And when we asked agencies, “Looking ahead to 2023, do you see your clients moving more or less marketing agency-like work in-house?”, 66% of agencies expect either no change or a reduction in the amount of work being managed by their clients in-house.
Last year’s report saw that number at 77%.
Be prepared
The need to co-exist and work with in-house groups continues to be important, but more than ever in 2023, being proactive with your clients, having an organic growth plan, and making them aware of all the things you can do for them are key.
The swings between acceleration and slowdown of in-housing leaves the function with an unsettled role. We know that industry sentiment will ebb and flow. We know that getting an in-house agency off the ground is a complex process that takes time, thought and planning — whether the strategy is motivated by cost-savings or broader marketing transformation. We know that there are no one-size-fits all solutions.
Your agency mindset in 2023 should be to treat your clients like ongoing prospects, in terms of the value and thinking you can bring, along with your work.
The in-house carousel will continue, but you can at least control the way you structure your new business strategy to bring in more new clients.
If your agency pursues clients in the restaurant, restaurant chains, or franchise space, you’ll want to watch this episode.
A bit of background: After serving our communities and its guests for 65+, LaRosa’s continues to be the leading pizzeria and Italian restaurant in the Greater Cincinnati area. We know a restaurant is only as good as the food it serves, and thousands of our Guests agree that LaRosa’s food simply can’t be beat.
LaRosa’s truly is your neighborhood pizzeria. Families in Ohio, Indiana, and Northern Kentucky have been enjoying LaRosa’s original recipe pizzas for generations, with many of them making LaRosa’s a weekly tradition. Of course you can choose from other LaRosa’s favorites like calzones, hoagies, pasta, and more.
Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Pete talks:
What he feels is key to maintaining a solid agency-client relationship.
What some of the toughest challenges he’s faced marketing the LaRosa’s brand to consumers and how he has overcome them.
Advice he would give to marketers thinking about bringing a new agency on board.
The degree to which LaRosa’s has had to adapt to changing consumer preferences over the 22 years Pete has been at the marketing helm.
What he did during the pandemic to keep sales strong and that he found useful continuing post-pandemic.
How his advertising experience (prior to joining LaRosa’s) has helped him.
And lastly, if an agency was trying to knock down his door and to win business, the advice he would give them.
If your agency pursues clients in the food retail or sustainable food space, you’ll want to watch this episode.
A bit of background: Chomps is a better-for-you meat snack brand with products made from the highest-quality, sustainably sourced proteins and no hidden, harmful ingredients.
Chomps beef and venison are 100% grass-fed and finished, our turkey is free range, and all of our proteins are hormone free, antibiotic free, and humanely raised.
Chomps meat snacks never contain added sugar, artificial preservatives or colors, MSG or fillers and are free from the top 8 allergens.
Our mission is to inspire a healthier way of snacking by providing high-quality, protein-packed snacks with simple, real food ingredients. At Chomps, there are no compromises or cutting corners – our products are delicious and nutritious.
Why Advertising Agencies Should Watch This Episode-Kasey talks:
Advice for other marketers looking to build their social presence and better take advantage of the space.
How there are a lot of “good for you” brands that use philanthropy or other approaches to strengthen their perceived “purpose” in the market and among employees and how Chomps efforts have benefited their brand and company.
Why she has focused her marketing career on “good for you” foods. Prior to joining Chomps, Kasey spent 9 years working for Enjoy Life Foods.
How marketing products like Chomps differs from marketing a more mainstream food product. We discussed other things marketers need to be considerate of – other ways they need to think about how they message or market a brand like Chomps.
How they make certain that the equities that exist in the brand today aren’t compromised as they expand the brand in the future.
And of course, advice she has for marketers looking for a new marketing agency and advice for agencies looking to bust down her door and work with her.
A little bit about Kasey:
Seasoned, yet scrappy marketing professional with several years of experience of CPG brand building experience.
Extensive experience in brand marketing and a strategic leader with a focus on data and behavior-driven results and continuous brand growth across all consumer touch points resulting in omnichannel growth.
Our inboxes are full to bursting and our eyes glaze over with ubiquitous digital ads.
Forrester Consulting released a study based on insights from 158 business-to-business (B2B) marketing leaders in North America on analog versus digital touchpoints, and although not technically, directly related to your business development efforts, it’s critical you pay attention to the key takeaways.
. . . the majority (80 percent) of respondents recognize that the pandemic has increased their reliance on digital touchpoints. Resulting from the overdependence on digital, 76 percent agree that engagement with digital tactics is dropping, while 78 percent of respondents report that analog touchpoints such as direct mail have seen a performance boost.
80% recognize the pandemic increased digital reliance
This applies to your agency business development effort as well, although it was happening well before the pandemic.
Sending an email is easy, versus making a phone call, for example.
You click send and there’s no personal interaction. Fear of rejection is minimized.
But the pandemic, as this study makes clear, and we can most certainly all agree on, has increased our digital dependence from a business development standpoint and increased your prospects’ digital fatigue.
It was understandable as the pandemic really kicked in, or at least many agencies told themselves that.
You can’t reach anyone by phone, everyone’s working from home.
I heard that a lot, and it was 100% not true, not after those first few months.
We actually set more meetings by phone during the pandemic.
76 percent agree that engagement with digital tactics is dropping
We’re awash in sales emails, and they’ve gotten progressively more ineffectual, ineffective, and voluminous.
As a company, we’ve been fortunate in that our process has always involved multiple touchpoints across multiple channels: phone, email, social and physical mail.
Another quote worth reading from the Business Wire summation:
Since the onset of the pandemic, businesses have significantly over-rotated on their use of digital engagement strategies to reach audiences. Unfortunately—but not unexpectedly—the reliance on digital channels alone has led to increasing levels of fatigue. The new engagement challenge for B2B marketers revolves around establishing authentic, personal relationships with audiences to counter this fatigue and forge connections that drive business value.
The word “authentic” in the prospecting/outreach context has become patently overused, but the point still stands.
Your outreach has to be personalized (to an extent at the top of the funnel) and personal in it’s messaging-meaning it doesn’t read like a bot or an ad, but rather that another human being wrote it.
78 percent of respondents report that analog touchpoints such as direct mail have seen a performance boost.
Here’s an example of a mailing piece we created and sent out to our agency prospects recently.
This one was a little silly and a little different, with the message on the front, “Thinking of You”, meant to be a throwback to a greeting card.
And so far it’s working. Although we’re in the early stages, we’ve seen it just in the amount of meetings I’ve set with agency principals.
4 key takeaways I’ll leave with you as you look to increase new business amongst all the digital fatigue:
You don’t know what’s going to resonate with a prospect, so you have to give yourself every opportunity, by using multiple methods/channels in order to stand out
The study gets into the use of SaaS platforms to track and accompany your direct mail campaigns. While that’s great, that probably isn’t in the budget, and it doesn’t have to be. Simple QR codes will work, for example.
Email is still valid, but it’s all about the messaging. Most sales emails are not written well and are not informed.
It’s not about any one channel/method. Our tech stack is also critical to our performance, for example.
I’ll often send a simple letter on RSW letterhead, that I personally sign.
It’s about mixing up what you’re doing, and most importantly, following up.
Driving new business for small and mid-sized agencies is particularly difficult because clients must come first, and the average new business director at an ad agency last 18 months.
The top 3 reasons it’s harder for ad agencies to get new business: 1) tougher to break through to prospects, 2) 39% of ad agencies said there are fewer opportunities, and 3) they can’t find the right hire to drive new business.
The Top 3 Reasons It’s Harder For Ad Agencies To Get New Business
1. It’s Harder to Break Through To Prospects
55% of agencies told us the main reason it’s more difficult to obtain new business is that it’s harder to break through to prospects.
Interestingly that percentage dropped from 59% last year to 55% this year.
One would have thought the opposite would be true, given the 15+ point increase in agencies finding it harder to get new clients.
So agencies are actually finding it a bit easier to break through to prospects than last year-that’s good news.
Looking at the second-highest reason agencies gave, last year it was “prospects that went dark after a first meeting” at 32%; however, that’s not the second highest this year.
In fact, that came in fourth, at 27%!
So agencies are having a slightly easier time, or doing a better job, with prospects that go dark.
Both are good to see, but it doesn’t really jibe with that 15+ point increase in agencies finding it harder to get new clients.
The 2nd and 3rd highest reasons agencies gave for why it’s harder to obtain new business in this year’s survey do coincide with that increase and should give agencies pause.
2. Fewer Opportunities
In 2022, 39% of agencies said there are fewer opportunities out there.
In 2021 that number was 23%.
While not overly alarming, that’s a 16 point increase.
I’ll throw some tough love out here:
Are there fewer opportunities, or are you just not actively looking for them?
Another stat from this same question:
The percentage of agencies who say they have no process in place is 25% this year versus 5% last year.
The third highest reason was, “can’t find the right person to drive the new business program” at 31%, whereas it was at 0% in 2021.
Agencies have always had trouble finding and keeping the right person to drive new business, but that’s quite an increase.
These stats paint a picture of agencies experiencing a fair amount of organic and existing growth, coupled with referrals throughout 2021.
To quote our 2021 Agency New Business Report, “the current influx of new business is not coming from actual business development on the part of agencies.”
And that looks to have played out for many agencies, who understand there needs to be a balance that includes some manageable form of outbound prospecting for new business.
Within this question was an “other” option, with the opportunity to provide open-ended responses.
Given the variety of responses, we wanted to give you a sample from your agency peers as to why it was harder for them to obtain new business:
• Hard to find prospects with significant budgets
• For pitches, Clients are still hiding behind video conference
• Uncertain we are targeting “right fit” prospects and/or it’s harder than ever to break
through to them if they are right fit.
• Hard to hire people necessary to build bandwidth to take on new clients
• We’re more sharply focused on ideal client prospects and that takes more time right
now to break through.
• Turnover and inexperience on the client side
• Economic uncertainty/headwinds
Those are your top 3 reasons it’s harder for ad agencies to get new business.
https://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The-Top-3-Reasons-Its-Harder-For-Ad-Agencies-To-Get-New-Business.jpg500500Lee McKnight Jrhttps://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Updated-RSW-logo-2021.pngLee McKnight Jr2022-09-27 14:37:142023-03-17 14:26:52The Top 3 Reasons It’s Harder For Ad Agencies To Get New Business
How Difficult Is Obtaining New Business, Compared to Last Year?
After an unprecedented 2021 survey report, where only 28% of agencies reported obtaining new business (compared to the previous year) as harder or a lot harder, this year we see the cyclical nature of the ad industry rear its head again.
In 2022, 43% of agencies report that obtaining new business (compared to the previous year) is harder or a lot harder than it was in 2021.
Looking at the responses from this question dating back to 2008, 2021 was a high point for many agencies, with only 28% saying it was harder to obtain new business that year.
Following the lockdown, budget freezes, and the overall extreme uncertainty of 2020, agencies needed that respite–and thankfully many firms got it.
But as you’ll see in our report, business is inevitably becoming harder to acquire again in 2022.
Looking at the data from another angle, only 17% of agencies said it was easier or a lot easier to obtain new business in 2022, versus 38% in 2021.
And in a follow-up question, “Relative to last year, have you seen the number of opportunities for new business decrease, increase, or remain the same?”, we saw that-
32% of agencies said the number of opportunities for new business increased, versus 51% last year.
As if agencies weren’t already exhausted from managing the pandemic and workforce disruption, the remainder of ‘22 and ‘23, with inflation and recession concerns, reaffirms
the need for agencies to make sure they have an actual new business strategy in place.
We’ll have a series of posts on our report, covering each major stat, and what it means for new business moving forward.
https://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Ad-Agencies-Are-Finding-New-Business-Harder-To-Drive-in-2022.jpg500500Lee McKnight Jrhttps://www.rswus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Updated-RSW-logo-2021.pngLee McKnight Jr2022-09-15 12:46:332022-09-15 13:33:32Ad Agencies Are Finding New Business Harder To Drive in 2022
